ASMR: Brain tingles

This is difficult to explain, but it's something I've experienced for as long as I can remember and am wondering if anyone else shares these symptoms. Whenever I listen to someone speaking softly or whispering, with a soothing voice, I get tingling sensations in my ears, scalp and neck. Using headphones greatly increases the intensity. Here's a website I found that best describes what I'm talking about: http://www.asmr-research.org/". Unfortunately, I couldn't find any scientific documentation or studies about "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response."

Does anyone else experience this, or something similar?

Here's a video that produces the sensations I'm talking about (best when used with headphones in a quiet environment):

I am guessing the quality of the sounds (as exemplified in your video), is triggering the pleasure sensors of the brain. In this case it is a woman's voice (isn't that Evo's voice? ). To disassociate this from a sexual response, does a man's voice or other animal vocalization elicit the same reaction?

In the second grade, I had a very old little nun [well, she seemed ancient to me then, and kind of mean] who had the strangest effect on me. If she even got within a couple of feet of me, I immediately became euphoric and felt light headed. I used to make excuses to have her help me when I didn't need help, just so that I could feel the effect.

This is probably not a fair comparison as more things are going on here.
This is a theatrical voice with musical backdrop meant to elicit an emotional response.
We are not dissociating the music from the voice on this one. I feel the ASMR reaction.

I am guessing the quality of the sounds (as exemplified in your video), is triggering the pleasure sensors of the brain. In this case it is a woman's voice. To disassociate this from a sexual response, does a man's voice or other animal vocalization elicit the same reaction?

Thanks for the link, and yes, the sensations are independent of gender and are also highly dependent on the quality of the audio. If the quality of the audio is bad (buzzing, feedback, hollow-sounding) then it doesn't have as much of an effect, if any at all. I also experience it when I'm watching someone open a package in a quiet environment. Here's a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDHP80aRvdo

I think it's the sound of the plastic packaging being manipulated that causes it.

Sampling of deep male voice for comparison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdBV7LTd07g
This is probably not a fair comparison as more things are going on here.
This is a theatrical voice with musical backdrop meant to elicit an emotional response.
We are not dissociating the music from the voice on this one. I feel ASMR reaction.

I'll have to listen to it when I get home from work.

Edit (1:11 PM): The thread you linked, "musical chills," I associate more with goosebumps. What I'm talking about here is a different feeling for me; there aren't goosebumps involved. It's almost the same as a "tickle." It's possible that it's related to the same thing and is just a different manifestation.

2nd Edit (1:40 PM): The more I think about it, the more accurate the word "tickle" becomes when describing the feeling. I feel it the most in my ears.

The male lion voice had a minor affect. I think there was too much other noise going on.

I thought about it some more and I think the first time I noticed it was actually during one of Bob Ross's painting episodes when I was younger. The sounds of the brush and his voice would either put me to sleep or give me these brain tickles.

Since you are asking what others experience; on both the female voice and the crinkling packaging examples, I did not feel any brain or ear tickling sensation. I did sense a minor (mildly irritating) auditory effect, but not an ASMR reaction.

Ignoring the hyperbole and sensationalistic language used in the article, the author does well in articulating the gist of what I experience when listening to "asmr/whisper" videos, but only some of the "triggers" he mentions are effective for me:

Exposure to slow, accented, or unique speech patterns

Viewing educational or instructive videos or lectures

Watching another person complete a task, often in a diligent, attentive manner - examples would be filling out a form, writing a check, going through a purse or bag, inspecting an item closely, etc.

I listen to asmr/whisper videos pretty much every night while attempting to fall asleep. However, I've noticed the feeling becomes less apparent/intense after many consecutive nights of listening to these videos. I can temporarily remedy this by "rotating" the videos I watch, but the only thing that seems to reset my ability to experience this feeling is to completely abstain from listening to them for a period of about 2 weeks. Then, when I start listening to them again, the "brain tingles" are much more intense.

Apparently there is a research group (http://www.asmr-research.org/) that is trying to study this phenomena scientifically, but I've yet to see anything published about their findings, assuming they've even been conducting any tests. I'd really like to find some information about this from a scientific perspective; all I can find are people's anecdotes and opinions. :grumpy:

Whenever this would happen to me, I'd turn off the audio or move away from it - it was sort of disconcerting. But I tried just relaxing and going with it instead, after reading this thread. I can't say it's a pleasurable feeling, but at least it doesn't grate on me like it used to.

Whenever this would happen to me, I'd turn off the audio or move away from it - it was sort of disconcerting. But I tried just relaxing and going with it instead, after reading this thread. I can't say it's a pleasurable feeling, but at least it doesn't grate on me like it used to.

Thank you for posting your experience, lisab. I'd never considered that some people might find the sensation to be uncomfortable. Do certain triggers have a "less-grating" effect than others?